GOP candidate for Executive Council plans to ‘check’ next governor

Friday

Oct 12, 2012 at 3:15 AM

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of stories Foster’s is publishing about major candidates in the Nov. 6 elections.

By Samantha Allen

sallen@fosters.com

DOVER — Republican candidate for the Executive Council seat for District 2, Michael Tierney, told the Foster’s editorial board he is excited at the prospect of joining the group he considers an independent “check” on government, but he entered the race rather reluctantly.“I stepped into this very last minute and very reluctantly, after a lot of prodding by a lot of people,” Tierney said. “And like any good man, I only made the decision after my wife told me I had to.”Running unopposed in the primary this fall, Tierney, 35, of Contoocook, now faces Colin Van Ostern, the Democratic candidate who beat out two others for the ticket.Tierney said with his background as a teacher and a lawyer — he now practices civil law as a partner with Wadleigh, Starr & Peters, PLLC in Manchester — he is up to the task at hand. Tierney graduated from Dartmouth College and taught for four years at the high school level, in both Claremont and St. Johnsbury, Vt., before attending law school at University of Notre Dame. He noted he can effectively keep his current job and serve as an executive councilor.“The reason why I’m running is in order to have an effective check on the governor,” he said. “I think that whoever our next governor is going to be really benefits New Hampshire by having somebody who acts a check, and an independent voice.”And he noted, the choice between himself and Van Ostern couldn’t be more “stark.”Van Ostern, 33, is a business manager for Stonyfield Farm, Inc. in Manchester. The two have sparred publicly over their conflicting views on funding for Planning Parenthood, to which Tierney argues, contracts should be awarded by the Executive Council through a competitive bidding process. He claims that was not the case when Planned Parenthood received a subsidy recently. “When it comes to approving spending, I think we need to make sure that we keep the spending within our current revenues,” he said. “We need to spend what money we have as efficiently and effectively as possible. One of the ways in which we do that, particularly in the larger contracts, is to have independent bidding.” Tierney pointed to a report from the Nashua Telegraph, which reported in a Sept. 30 issue, the Planned Parenthood of Northern New England’s Action Fund has launched a $500,000 campaign of direct mail, phone calls and canvassing on behalf of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Maggie Hassan and “select” Democratic hopefuls for the Executive Council. Tierney said the government shouldn’t be giving subsidies to such “profitable” organizations.He added while a position on Executive Council requires the review of contracts from a mechanical standpoint, he can’t say personal and political beliefs don’t come into play for him. “I would be lying if I told you that my belief in the sanctity of life somehow is something that I can put to one side of me and (I can) look at things in a mechanical way,” he said. “You know, nobody can ever look at things in a mechanical way.”Even though the budget is handed down from the Legislature, the Executive Council has the opportunity to approve and reject contracts for the state, as well as gubernatorial appointments.Tierney pointed to one political difference between he said Van Ostern, where he said his opponent views increased regulation as a way of increasing jobs. He said, to the contrary, he believes in limited regulation, citing many small business owners he has interacted with who see governmental regulations as interference. Tierney also accused his opponent of propping up an “extreme left-wing agenda.” “He’s looking at this race as a stepping stone for larger office and he thinks that the citizens of New Hampshire are lot dumber than he is, that he knows it better than everyone else,” Tierney said. “I think people who pay attention to the race will realize that.”On the question of which of the two gubernatorial candidates Tierney sees himself working better with, he replied both Hassan and the Republican hopeful, Ovide Lamontagne, bring valuable ideas to the table. He said an issue he will see grappling with in the future will be on the questions of privatizing state prisons, to which Tierney said he is very skeptical of the savings earned through privatization, which he said could hurt inmates in the end.He added he is extremely opposed to a state or income tax and hopes to find ways to limit government spending by awarding sensible, efficient contracts. “The solution to the tax burden is to keep spending in control. The Executive Council is not going to fix the entire state overnight. One executive councilor is not going to fix the entire state overnight,” Tierney said. “But if we can take a $28 million contract and reduce it to $26 million, that’s $2 million. And that makes a step in the right direction.”

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